The minister flew a sortie in the formidable fighter, which has nuclear strike capability and capability to penetrate deep in enemy territory, at the Air Force Station in Jodhpur.

After her recent stay on board INS Vikramaditya at sea and whirlwind tours to forward areas and different installations of the three forces, this sortie will be a part of the defence minister's continued effort to gauge and review the operational preparedness and combat capabilities of the armed forces, the sources said.

The Sukhoi-30 MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force. A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.

In November 2017, India had successfully flight-tested the air variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the fighter jet.